What the hell happened this week? And new back-to-school guide!
Congratulations on surviving another week here on planet earth 🌍 and thanks for being a subscriber!
What you missed this week
If you opened up any social media app, email, or the internet this week, you probably got overwhelmed at the absolute deluge of Takes™ everyone was slinging around. One of my goals for upcoming newsletter issues is to give you a few quick reads, listens, or videos to watch that can anchor you in some current events. It’s not a substitute for being otherwise politically engaged and aware, but hopefully it’s an oar you can reach for in the lake if you feel like you’re drowning some weeks.
Read:
Ta-Nehisi Coates on the news media’s dangerous sanitizing of Charlie Kirk’s legacy
Right-wing talking heads and mainstream media sources scrambled to find a trans connection/blame a trans person in the wake of CK’s killing. Check out this thread (with sources) for a high-level overview of this trend, its errors, and its consequences
What we can learn from how Russia killed media freedom
Watch: If you were reading rapid-fire news about suspected motives for CK’s murder and wondered what the hell a “groyper” is, this video is for you
Listen: Make Me Smart’s brief check-in on the rise of political violence in America
For my Chicago crew: If you haven’t been keeping up to speed about the ICE raids and CBP activity in the suburban Chicagland area, I’d encourage you to check out the coverage from Unraveled (also on instagram) for on-the-ground reporting
New Back-to-School Guide for (Re)Engaging Politically
So much of my life was on the quarter system, and this is the first year in over a decade that I am not back-to-school right now, since I quit my academic job. Probably more musings on that at some point soon, but for now what I can say is this: there’s no perfect time of year to start or re-start a habit or turn over a new leaf, but there are some parts of the year where it will feel more possible, more natural, or where others will be doing the same and can help you on that path.
In that spirit, I made a FREE guide for helping you get back into your political work this fall. If you don’t see the attachment, click to get yours 👇
It’s for everyone who took some time off over the summer, or had to step away for one reason or another, and is feeling a little overwhelmed or unsure about where to start. It’s also for folks who haven’t been as active politically but are really feeling the heaviness of ✨ everything ✨ right now and feeling hopeless or powerless about what to do. As a thank you for being subscribed to the newsletter, your free copy is attached right here! If you find it useful, feel free to share it widely — you can forward this email, send along the guide, or just send your friends, family, or comrades here to get theirs.
A guide for your guide 😉
I’ll be releasing some additional writing next week that touches on a few of the resources in the guide and gives a bit more context for the selections. But for you, as a subscriber, I want to offer some bonus Q’s and A’s to accompany you on your journey with the guide. You can use these as a way to engage more deeply with each resource, or as a way to talk about them with people in your life. I think your answers to these questions is the most important thing to consider, but if it would help to hear some of my thoughts or answers, let me know and perhaps I’ll include them in the next newsletter 🙃
Read
“Lessons in courage, care and collective action:” The proposed mechanism for how accompaniment works to reduce violence is “the immediate shaming and intimidation invoked by the presence of a ‘high-status’ outsider.” Could this tactic work in contexts outside of Central America? If so, what types of people or what actions by accompaniment personnel could invoke this shaming or intimidation? Or, what other mechanisms could they use to make accompaniment effective?
“Live not by lies:” What is a lie you are being asked to participate in right now? What would it look like to reject it? What would you think, say, do?
“A practical utopian’s guide to the coming collapse:” Graeber says that “what [revolutions] really do is transform basic assumptions about what politics is ultimately about.” What assumptions do you hold about politics that are being challenged right now, and what assumptions do you think others still hold that you have moved on from? What is breaking you/broke you of your assumptions? What do you or will you do differently because those assumptions no longer hold?
Watch
Andrewism: What stage of awareness are you in? What about the people around you? What response do you find yourself in most often? What path of action do you most align with?
There was no hope: The Warsaw ghetto uprising is among the most famous instances of revolting against oppressive forces with few resources or support, and under the threat of immediate death. What made that uprising possible, what made it thinkable, under those conditions?
Dionne Brand: Brand says she doesn’t write to appeal to “justice,” because we live in a state of tyranny, but rather writes to dismantle and reject tyranny. How would your political work, or even your social interactions with your loved ones, look different if you did it all in a way that rejected tyranny?
Listen
Thich Nhat Hanh: Who and what can you take refuge in right now? In what ways are you remaining calm and fostering safety for others? Who does that for you?
Building Resiliency: What are some things you already do that are building community connections, or have that potential?
An Anarchism of Despair: What would it look like if you gave yourself space to stay with your despair right now? How could you make your despair generative?
Do
Here’s the “answers” part of this Q&A you were promised 😉 Specifically, a few possible answers to the hardest challenge action: finding and participating in some mutual aid or community organizing this month. Here are a few options to start with, whether you’re in Chicago or elsewhere:
Running Down the Walls (Chicago: 21 Sept, elsewhere: check your favorite search engine)
Upcoming Events
In addition to building up more written content and resources for you all, I’m also hosting 2 live online workshops this fall.
Tough Conversations (28 Oct, 6.30 pm CST)
This interactive online workshop is intended to give you a jump-start on the challenging political conversations you need to have with people in your life — with plenty of time to practice before the holiday season.
This is an introductory session appropriate for people at all levels of political education and experience. It’s designed for folks who feel unsettled or uneasy when someone says something in person or online that betrays their biased or unexamined beliefs, spreads misinformation or disinformation, or expresses harmful or hateful attitudes. Learn how to interrupt these moments and get hands-on practice that can help you feel more grounded and prepared to take on political conversations, no matter where they happen.
Dissecting the News (6 Dec, 5 pm CST)
This will serve as an introduction (or refresher!) on how to critically examine news stories and information. You’ll get frameworks for assessing the accuracy and gaps in news reporting, ideas and tips for identifying mis- and dis-information, and hands-on practice that you can take to your everyday life and share with your friends and family.
In our current social media and information environment, it’s tough to tell what’s real and what’s spin. Some of the standards for assessing reliability and credibility that we learned in the 2000s just don’t apply in 2025. This workshop is meant to help you sort through the news and discard the noise, so you can feel more grounded in our information hellscape instead of drowning in facts and fiction.
How to register
Registration will open soon, and as a newsletter subscriber, you’ll be the first to find out when it is! If you have people in your life who need these workshops, make sure they sign up for the newsletter too.
And since you’re here and engaged, I want to hear from you! If there’s a particularly challenging conversation you’ve needed to have lately (or are needing to have soon), or a tricky news topic you’ve been wondering about, let me know. I’d love to incorporate your suggestions into these events to make sure they can meet your needs 🖤
Stay in touch
That’s all for this week! Keep in touch on instagram and stay tuned for some writing this upcoming week: a review of the resources in the back-to-school guide, as well as some thoughts about engaging with people in your life (or online!) about politically polarizing events.
Did you benefit from this content? Newsletters are free for all subscribers, but you’re welcome to upgrade to a pay-what-you-want tier if you found it particularly useful and want to offer support. (There may be bonus content for this tier in the future but right now, WYSIWYG).
In solidarity,
Sirus
